“Thrawn” is a breath of fresh Star Wars air.

Timothy Zahn’s new book, Thrawn (April 2017) is a brilliant novel to stand against the string of relatively weak Star Wars movies that have been coming out these past few years. (Note, it is on sale for $1.99 for the next 5 days)I love this book because it is strategic but simple to understand. It gives complexity to characters that become villains of the Star Wars galaxy. It has smart allies and antagonists across the board, and is often a political, military, and social battle of equals with their own strengths and weaknesses. Thrawn is a brilliant strategist but terrible politician. Arhinda, the second “protagonist” is a brilliant bureaucrat but overly paranoid and is all too willing to change loyalties when advantageous for her.Interspersed between the chapters is Thrawn’s monologue or thoughts. They are pithy and feel like they belong in Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War”. Yet they are never cheesy and I think we’d do well today to follow them:

All people have regrets. Warriors are no exceptions. One would hope it was possible to distinguish between events caused by one’s carelessness or lack of ability and those caused by circumstances or forces beyond one’s control. But in practice, there is no difference. All forms of regret sear equally deeply into the mind and soul. All forms leave scars of equal bitterness.

In Arihnda Pryce, you can see where seemingly innocent but ambitious behavior transforms into shades of manipulation and cruelty. I love her character development so much.In Thrawn, you see an internal struggle of being part of a genocidal empire that helps keep the peace in the Star Wars universe. Thrawn is a good guy on the wrong side, believing in stability above all else. His interactions with our main character, Eli, show that rather than being driven by paranoia, Thrawn is driven by principle and loyalty to his friends.

A friend need not be kept either within sight or within reach. A friend must be allowed the freedom to find and follow his own path.

Timothy Zahn wrote the original Thrawn books has done a great job tying in the post-Disney Star Wars with the “Legend Extended Universe” that is made “not canon”. I haven’t read the original Thrawn books, but hope to get to them as soon as possible. This is very well written YA, and makes me want to dive head-first into the Star Wars universe.